Battery plate feeding and handling apparatus

ABSTRACT

A plate feeding and handling apparatus (10) includes a synchronization assembly (30) for temporarily suspending the transport of plates on a conveyor (224). The synchronization assembly includes mini-stack assembly (268) and a perch assembly (270).

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This is a division of Ser. No. 09/164,151 filed Sep. 30, 1998. Applicantclaims the priority benefit under 35 U.S.C. Section 119(e) of U.S.provisional application Ser. No. 60/060,434 filed Sep. 30, 1997, and ofU.S. provisional application Ser. No. 60/062,747 filed Oct. 23, 1997.The present application also incorporates these provisional applicationsby reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to devices for feeding and handling stacksof plates such as lead plates used in the production of lead acidstorage batteries. More particularly, the present invention relates to abattery plate feeding and handling apparatus that more effectivelyremoves battery plates from stacks of plates, aligns or orients theplates as they are being transported, cleans the lugs on the batteryplates, wraps the battery plates in insulative material, synchronizesthe transport of the plates with down-stream operations, and rejectsdamaged or otherwise defective plates.

2. Description of the Prior Art

Lead acid storage batteries are formed from a plurality of lead platesthat must be individually handled and processed during the manufactureof the batteries. Prior art devices for feeding and handling such platessuffer from several limitations that limit their utility. For example,prior art battery plate feeding and handling devices often havedifficulty in removing the forwardmost plate from a stack of plateswithout removing more than one plate and/or damaging the plate as it isremoved.

Additionally, prior art battery plate feeding and handling devices havedifficulty gripping the plates and positioning lug brushes during thecleaning of the lugs of the plates, making it difficult to properlyclean the battery plates. These prior art devices also have difficultypositioning or orienting the plates before they are enveloped ininsulation, often resulting in mis-application of the insulation.

Prior art battery plate feeding and handling devices also havecomponents that are difficult to adjust and/or changeover. These priorart devices also have difficulty discarding defective plates and havedifficulty synchronizing the movement of the battery plates among thevarious stages of the battery production line.

OBJECTS AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In view of the foregoing, it is an object of the present invention toprovide a battery plate feeding and handling apparatus that moreeffectively removes the forwardmost plate from a stack of plates withoutremoving more than one plate and without damaging the removed plate.Additionally, it is an object of the present invention to provide suchan apparatus that more effectively grips battery plates as they arebeing conveyed through various stages, cleans the lugs on the batteryplates, aligns or orients the plates, wraps the battery plates ininsulative material, synchronizes the transport of the plates withdown-stream operations, and rejects damaged or otherwise defective tplates.

The present invention achieves these and other objects by providing animproved plate feeding and handling apparatus that includes an improvedplate feeder station having a plurality of stops that are contacted bythe forwardmost plates of stacks of plates as the stacks are advancedtowards a pick-up assembly. The stops each include a vacuum port thatholds the forwardmost plate of the stack against the stop whilepermitting the remaining plates in the stack to move slightly away fromthe stop, thus creating a gap between the forwardmost plate and theremaining plates in the stack for facilitating pick-up of theforwardmost plate.

The battery plate feeding and handling apparatus of the presentinvention also includes an improved lug brush cleaning station that moreeffectively grips the plates as they are being cleaned and that moreeffectively and consistently positions a pair of lug brushes duringcleaning and servicing. The station includes structure that permits anoperator to select the amount of gripping force applied to the plates asthey pass therethrough. The station also includes a servo assembly thatmore precisely positions the rotating brushes during cleaning of thelugs on the plates.

The apparatus of the present invention also includes a plate alignmentstation that allows an operator to more easily adjust the position ofthe plates as they enter a plate enveloper. Specifically, the platealignment station includes a pair of side-by-side conveyor chains forcarrying the plates to the plate enveloper and a servo assembly coupledwith each chain for advancing or retarding the chains relative to oneanother for adjusting the orientation of the plates on the chains.

The apparatus of the present invention also includes a plate rejectionstation that more rapidly and accurately rejects plates that have beendetermined to be damaged or otherwise unsuitable for use in batteries.Specifically, the plate rejection station includes a pair of alignedconveyors, a cylinder assembly for lowering one end of one of theconveyors, and a cylinder assembly for raising one end of the otherconveyor. The cylinder assemblies are cross-coupled so that as the firstconveyor is lowered, the second conveyor is raised, thus creating a gapbetween the two conveyors to permit defective plates to be discardedfrom the conveyors.

The apparatus of the present invention also includes a platesynchronization station that allows the normal rapid transport of thebattery plates to be temporarily suspended so that time-consumingprocesses occurring downstream can be completed. Then, when the platesare ready to be once again transported downstream, the plate delaysynchronization assembly accurately places the plates in proper order sothat the transport of the plates is synchronized with the remainingcomponents of the plate feeding and handling apparatus.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIGURES

A preferred embodiment of the present invention is described in detailbelow with reference to the attached drawing figures, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic layout in plan view of a battery plate feeding andhandling apparatus constructed in accordance with a preferred embodimentof the present invention;

FIG. 2 is an elevational view of one of the plate feeder and pick-upstations and lug brush cleaning stations of the apparatus taken alongline 2--2 of FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a side view of the lug brush cleaning station of FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a fragmentary plan view of the plate feeder and pick-upstation shown in FIG. 2;

FIG. 5 is a sectional view of the plate feeder and pick-up station takenalong line 5--5 of FIG. 4;

FIG. 6 is a schematic depiction of the plate feeder illustrating thetransport of a stack of plates against a stop;

FIG. 7 is a schematic depiction of the plate feeder illustrating thetransport of the stack of plates and showing the gripping of theforwardmost plate in the stack by the stop;

FIG. 8 is a schematic depiction of the plate feeder illustrating thetransport of a stack of plates and showing the removal of theforwardmost plate of the stack by the pick-up assembly;

FIG. 9 is an elevational view of the lug brush cleaning station showingthe lug brushes in their operating, cleaning position;

FIG. 10 is an elevational view of the lug brush cleaning station showingthe brushes in their idle position;

FIG. 11 is an elevational view of the lug brush cleaning station showingthe brushes in their operating position but after they have become wornand are ready to be replaced;

FIG. 12 is an elevational view of the lug brush cleaning station showingthe brushes in their service position;

FIG. 13 is an elevational view of the plate alignment station and plateencapsulation station of the apparatus;

FIG. 14 is an elevational view of the plate alignment station;

FIG. 15 is a plan view of the plate alignment station;

FIG. 16 is a schematic depiction of the plate alignment stationillustrating the positioning of a battery plate thereon;

FIG. 17 is a schematic depiction of the plate alignment stationillustrating the positioning of a battery plate thereon;

FIG. 18 is a front view of the plate encapsulation station of theapparatus;

FIG. 19 is a side view of the drive side of the plate encapsulationstation;

FIG. 20 is a side view of the opposite side of the plate encapsulationstation showing several of the components in their removed position;

FIG. 21 is a sectional view taken along line 21--21 of FIG. 1 andshowing the transport of a non-wrapped plate onto a conveyor;

FIG. 22 is a plan view of the plate rejection station and platesynchronization station of the apparatus;

FIG. 23 is an elevational view of the plate rejection and platesynchronization stations showing the plate rejection station in itsnormal operating position and showing the plate synchronization stationin its delay mode;

FIG. 24 is an elevational view of the plate rejection and platesynchronization stations showing the plate rejection station in itsrejection position and showing the plate synchronization station in itsnormal mode; and

FIG. 25 is a sectional view of one component of the platesynchronization station taken along line 25--25 of FIG. 1.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Turning now to the drawing figures, and particularly FIG. 1, the platefeeding and handling apparatus 10 of the present invention broadlyincludes a pair of automatic plate feeder and pick-up stations generallyreferred to by the numerals 12,14, a manual plate feeder station 16,three lug brush cleaning stations 18,20,22, a plate alignment station24, a plate encapsulating station 26, a plate rejection station 28, anda plate synchronization assembly 30. Each of these stations is discussedseparately below.

PLATE FEEDER AND PICK-UP STATIONS

The automatic plate feeder and pick-up stations 12,14 are described indetail in application Ser. No. 08/812,372, U.S. Pat. No. 5,934,866,entitled PLATE FEEDER APPARATUS, filed Mar. 5, 1997, hereby incorporatedinto the present application by reference. The station 12 handlesbattery plates that are to be wrapped in insulative material in theencapsulation station 26, whereas the station 14 handles plates that arenot wrapped. The manual plate feeder station 16 is used for manuallyfeeding battery plates into the production line for use in formingcertain types of batteries that require an odd number of plates.

The automatic plate feeder and pick-up stations 12,14 are substantiallyidentical; therefore only the station 12 is described and illustrated indetail herein. As best illustrated in FIGS. 2-8, the station 12 includesa plate feeder 32 that holds and sequentially feeds two stacks 34 ofplates, and a pick-up 36 that successively picks or removes theforwardmost plate 38 from each stack and then drops the removed platesonto a conveyor 40. The conveyor then carries the plates to the lugbrush cleaning station 18 as described below. The plate feeder andpick-up are driven by a drive shaft coupled with a conventional ACmotor, which may in turn be coupled with a variable frequency drive anda PLC or other type of controller for automating the operation of thestation.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 4 and 6-8, the plate feeder 32 has an inletside 42 and an outlet side 44 and includes a pair of side-by-sideconveyor assemblies 46,48. Each of the conveyor assemblies includes apair of conveyor chains 50,52,54,56 trained over a set of drive andidler sprockets 58,60 and a plate pusher assembly 62 supported on top ofthe chains for holding and advancing the stacks 34 of plates towards thepick-up 36.

The outlet side 44 of each conveyor assembly 46,48 also includes a pairof stops 64,66,68,70 that serve as benchmarks to stop the forwardmovement of the plates on the conveyor chains 50,52,54,56. In accordancewith one aspect of the present invention, each of the stops includes avacuum port 72 that is coupled with a source of vacuum pressure.

The pick-up 36 includes a rotatable head 74 having at least twooutwardly extending pick-up snouts 76 extending therefrom. As bestillustrated in FIG. 4, the pick-up snouts are rotated between the chains50,52,54,56 so that they contact the front surface of the forwardmostplates in the stacks 34 as described in more detail below. The pick-upsnouts are coupled with a suitable source of vacuum pressure which iscontrolled by valve structure described more fully in U.S. Pat. No.5,934,866.

In operation, stacks 34 of plates are placed on the pusher assemblies62, which are then placed on top of the conveyor chains 50,52,54,56. Theplate feeder 32 is then operated to advance the pusher assemblies andstacks of plates towards the pick-up 36. To facilitate removal of onlythe forwardmost plate from each stack, the plate feeder shifts thestacks forward a first distance toward the pick-up and then shifts thestacks a second, shorter distance away from the pick-up during rotationof the pick-up as described in more detail below.

While the plate feeder 32 advances the stacks 34 of plates, the pick-up36 rotates its snouts 76 in front of the forwardmost plates 38 in thestacks. The snouts are valved so that they are connected to vacuumpressure as they rotate in front of the plates and than disconnectedfrom the vacuum pressure as they pass over the conveyor 40. This permitseach snout to remove the forwardmost plate from its associated stack asit passes thereby, to hold the removed plate as the vacuum headcontinues to rotate, and then to release the plate over the conveyor.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 6-8, the operation of the plate feeder 32and pick-up 36 are synchronized to ensure that the snouts 76consistently pick or remove only the forwardmost plates 38 from thestacks 34 without damaging the removed plates as the snouts rotate bythe stacks. The plate feeder initially advances the plates forwardagainst the stops 64,66,68,70 before the pick-up snouts rotate by thestacks as illustrated in FIG. 6. The plate feeder then moves the stacksrearward as illustrated in FIG. 7 immediately before the snouts rotateby the stacks. This creates a gap between the forwardmost plates and theremaining plates in the stacks to ensure that the snouts remove only theforwardmost plates from the stacks. This also permits the snouts tocontinue to rotate by the stacks without striking the tail ends of theremoved plates against the remaining plates in the stacks as illustratedin FIG. 8.

To further facilitate the removal of the forwardmost plates 38 from thestacks 34 without removing more than one plate from each stack, thevacuum ports 72 in the stops 64,66,68,70 are operated to capture andhold the forwardmost plates on the stops while permitting the platesbehind the forwardmost plates to move slightly rearward, thus creating agap between the forwardmost plates and the remaining plates in thestacks as illustrated in FIG. 7. This allows the snouts 76 of thepick-up 36 to gently contact the forwardmost plates as they are rotatedthereby so that the snouts more consistently pick-up the forwardmostplates without picking up more than one plate each. This constructionalso allows the pick-up snouts to be operated at a lower vacuum pressurebecause less vacuum force is needed to pickup the forwardmost plates.The operation of the vacuum ports is preferably automatically sequencedwith the rotation of the snouts with valve structure or under thecontrol of a PLC or other controller.

After the snouts 76 have passed by the stacks 34, the plate feeder 32once again shifts the stacks to their forwardmost positions and thenback to their rearwardmost positions before the next snouts arrive. Thispositions and captures the next forwardmost plates against the stops64,66,68,70. As mentioned above, the pusher assemblies 62 are movedforward toward the pick-up 36 a greater distance than they are movedaway from the pick-up to account for the thickness of the removedplates. This ensures that the stacks are always positioned apre-determined distance from the pick-up snouts regardless of how manyplates have been removed.

The manual plate feeder station 16 illustrated in FIG. 1 is entirelyconventional and includes a conveyor mechanism (not shown) on whichbattery plates may be manually placed for transport to the lug brushcleaning mechanism 22. The manual plate feeder station is typically usedonly when batteries requiring an odd number of plates are to bemanufactured.

LUG BRUSH CLEANING STATIONS

A lug brush cleaning station 18,20,22 is provided for each of the twoautomatic plate feeder and pick-up stations 12,14 and the manual platefeeder station 16. The three lug brush cleaning stations aresubstantially identical; therefore only the station 18 is illustratedand described in detail herein.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3, the lug brush cleaning station 18includes a conveyor assembly 78 that receives and transports plates fromthe conveyor 40 and a brush mechanism 80 for cleaning the lugs on theplates as they are transported thereby on the conveyor assembly 78.

The conveyor assembly 78 preferably includes a pair of verticallystacked upper and lower conveyor belts 82,84 that are each trainedaround a drive roller 86,88 and an idler roller 90,92, and a biasingmechanism 94 for biasing the conveyor belts into contact with oneanother. The drive rollers are vertically spaced a small distance apartto define a nip region therebetween for gripping the plates as they exitthe conveyor 40 and introducing the plates between the two conveyorbelts 82,84.

The biasing mechanism 94 includes a fixed roller 96 positioned below theupper portion of the lower conveyor 84 and a spring-biased roller 98positioned above the lower portion of the upper conveyor 82. Thespring-biased roller is coupled with a spring and lever mechanism 100that exerts a downward force on the spring-biased roller so that theroller exerts a downward force on the upper conveyor 82. This biases theconveyors into contact with one another to prevent the battery platesbetween the conveyors from moving relative to the conveyor belts astheir lugs are being cleaned by the brush station. This also allows bothof the conveyors to be driven by a single drive line if desired. Thedownward force exerted on the spring-biased roller by the levermechanism can be selectively adjusted by an operator to provide theoptimum amount of pressure between the two conveyors.

The brush mechanism 80 includes a pair of vertically stacked upper andlower rotatable brushes 102,104 each driven by a separate motor 106,108.The brushes are preferably formed of steel and are approximately 10" indiameter and 1/2" thick. The brushes and their corresponding motors aresupported on frames 110,112 that are suspended below an upper support114 by a pair oftie rods 116,118. As best illustrated in FIGS. 9-12, theupper ends of the tie rods are attached to a servo arm 120 that iscoupled with the output shaft 122 of a servo motor and gear box 124 thatis mounted on the support 114.

As illustrated in FIGS. 9 and 11, the servo motor 124 can be operated toreposition the upper and lower brushes 102,104 as they become worn.Initially, when the brushes are new, the servo motor 124 positions thebrushes as illustrated in FIG. 9. Then, as the brushes become worn anddecrease in diameter, the servo motor gradually rotates the servo armclockwise as illustrated in FIG. 11 to lower the upper brush 102 andraise the lower brush 104 to move the centers of the brushes closertogether to maintain the contact between the outer edges of the brushes.

As the servo arm 120 is rotated clockwise, the tie rod 118 raises thelower brush 104 and the tie rod 116 lowers the upper brush 102 the exactsame distance. Similarly, when the servo arm is rotatedcounterclockwise, the tie rod 118 lowers the lower brush 104 and the tierod 116 raises the upper brush 102 the exact same distance. Thus, as theservo motor shaft 122 is rotated, the servo arm 120 and tie rodssimultaneously lift or lower the brushes the same distance in thereverse direction so that the brushes are always the same distance awayfrom the plates carried between the conveyors 82,84.

To sense and monitor the positioning of the upper and lower brushes102,104, a pair of position sensing switches or contacts 126,128 may bemounted to the support 114. The switches may be coupled with acontroller or with indicators to alert an operator when the brushesbecome completely worn and need to be replaced.

In preferred forms, each of the tie rods 116,118 has two segments thatare joined by a pancake cylinder 130,132. As illustrated in FIG. 10, thepancake cylinder 130 can be operated to raise the upper brush 102 aslight distance and the pancake cylinder 132 can be operated to lowerthe lower brush 104 a slight difference to create a small gap betweenthe two brushes. The pancake cylinders are typically operated wheneverthe apparatus 10 is temporarily shut down and the conveyors 82,84 havebeen stopped. This separates the brushes from a battery plate 134 thathas stopped therebetween to prevent the brushes from eroding the lug offof the battery plate.

The brush mechanism 80 also preferably includes a cylinder 136 that canbe operated to lift the brushes 102,104 into a raised, service positionas illustrated in FIG. 12. The cylinder is attached to the frame 110 ofthe upper brush 102, which is in turn connected to the frame 112 of thelower brush 104 by a tie rod 138. As best illustrated in FIG. 9, the tierod is slightly longer than the spacing between the two frames when thebrushes are in their operating positioning. The cylinder will thereforefirst raise the upper brush a short distance before the tie rod beginsto raise the lower brush, thus slightly separating the brushes when theyare in their service position illustrated in FIG. 12.

PLATE ALIGNMENT STATION

The plate alignment station 24, which is best illustrated in FIGS.13-17, receives the plates after they have been cleaned by the lug brushcleaning mechanism 18 and advances the plates to the plate encapsulationstation 26. The plate alignment station allows an operator to easilyadjust the orientation or alignment of the plates before they enter theencapsulation station to ensure that the insulation is properly appliedto the plates.

The plate alignment station 24 includes a conveyor 140 having a pair ofside-by-side chains or belts 142,144 and a pair of servo assemblies146,148 each coupled with one of the chains. As best illustrated inFIGS. 13 and 14, the chains are each trained over a pair of idlersprockets 150,152 and a drive sprocket 154 and include a plurality ofspaced projections 156 along the length thereof for contacting andadvancing the battery plates toward the encapsulation station.

Each servo assembly 146,148 includes a pair of generally verticallyextending levers 158,160,162,164 that are pivoted about their lowerends. Each pair of levers are coupled together with a spring or tie rod166 (only one shown) and each includes an idler sprocket 168 on itsupper end that contacts the outer surface of its corresponding conveyorchain. Each servo assembly also includes a servo or stepper motor170,172 and a tie rod 174,176 that is connected between the upper end ofthe levers 158,162 and a pair of servo arms 178,180. The servo arms areattached to the rotatable shafts 182,184 of the corresponding steppermotors.

The servo assemblies 146,148 can be operated to advance or retard one ofthe conveyor chains 142,144 relative to the other as illustrated inFIGS. 16 and 17 to adjust the orientation of a plate 186 supported onthe conveyor chains. For example, when the shaft 182 of the servo orstepper motor 170 corresponding to the first conveyor chain 142 isrotated clockwise as illustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14, the levers 158,160are shifted to the right to slightly advance the first conveyor chain142 relative to the second conveyor chain 144 as illustrated in FIG. 17.Conversely, when the shaft 182 is rotated counterclockwise asillustrated in FIGS. 13 and 14, the levers 158,160 are shifted to theleft to slightly retard the first conveyor chain 142 relative to thesecond conveyor chain 144 as illustrated in FIG. 16.

The servo or stepper motors 170,172 may be operated individually or inunison and may be coupled with a PLC or other controller toautomatically adjust the relative positioning of the conveyor chains142,144 in response to a sensor that senses the orientation of thebattery plates on the conveyor chains.

PLATE ENCAPSULATING STATION

The plate encapsulating station 26 receives the battery plates from theplate alignment station 24 and applies insulation to the plates beforedischarging them to another conveyor 188. As best illustrated in FIGS.13 and 18-20, the plate encapsulating station includes a pair of feedrollers 190 driven by a feed roller drive line 192, a cutoff roller 194and an anvil roller 196 driven by a second drive line 198, and a pair ofnip rollers 200 that are also driven by the second drive line. The feedrollers feed a web of insulation material 202 from a roll station (notshown) to the cutoff roller and the nip rollers for application to thebattery plates as they pass between the nip rollers.

As best illustrated in FIG. 20, the feed rollers, cutoff roller and niprollers are mounted to separate frames 204,206,208 that can beselectively inserted or removed from tracks 210,212,214 formed in thehousing of the encapsulating station. This allows all of the rollers tobe easily removed and replaced during changeover of the plateencapsulating station.

Once the plates have been wrapped, the conveyor 188 carries the platesto a single chain conveyor 190 as illustrated in FIG. 1. As a wrappedplate 216 is deposited on the conveyor 190, the second lug brushcleaning station 20 delivers an unwrapped plate 218 to a perch 220 thatis mounted slightly above the conveyor 190 as best illustrated in FIG.21. The perch has a slot along the length thereof that is parallel tothe travel of the conveyor 190. As the chain on the conveyor carries thewrapped plate 216 under the perch 220, a lug 222 on the chain contactsand removes the unwrapped plate 218 from the perch so that it is stackedon top of the wrapped plate. The conveyor then carries the wrapped andunwrapped plates to the plate rejection station 28.

PLATE REJECTION STATION

The plate rejection station 28 receives the wrapped and unwrapped platesfrom the single chain conveyor 190 and delivers them to a final conveyor224 that transports the plates to a stacking assembly (not shown). Theplate rejection station is operable for rapidly rejecting damaged orotherwise defective plates before they reach the final conveyor.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 22-24, the plate rejection station 28includes a pair of horizontally aligned first and second conveyors226,228 each having a receiving end 230,232 and a discharge end 234,236.The first conveyor 226 includes a pair of belts 238,240 that are trainedover a pair of idler rollers 242 and a pair of drive rollers 244, and apositioning mechanism 246 for selectively lowering the discharge end 234of the first conveyor. The positioning mechanism includes a cylinder 248and a pivotal crank 250 that is attached between the cylinder and thedrive rollers 244. The cylinder can be selectively extended to raise thedischarge end 234 of the first conveyor to an operating position (FIG.23) or retracted to lower the discharge end to a rejection position(FIG.24).

Similarly, the second conveyor 228 includes a pair of belts 252,254 thatare trained over an idler roller 256 and a drive roller 258, and apositioning mechanism 260 for selectively raising the receiving end 232of the second conveyor. The positioning mechanism includes a cylinder262 and a pivotal crank 264 that is attached between the cylinder andthe drive roller 258. The cylinder can be selectively extended to lowerthe receiving end 232 of the second conveyor to an operating position(FIG. 23) or retracted to raise the receiving end to a rejectionposition (FIG. 24).

During normal operating conditions, the first and second conveyors226,228 are shifted to their operating positions illustrated in FIG. 23so that plates may pass from the first conveyor to the second. However,when a defective plate 266 is detected, the first and second conveyorsare shifted to their rejection positions illustrated in FIG. 24 so thatthe defective plate drops from the first conveyor before it reaches thesecond conveyor. The cylinders 248,262 are preferably cross-coupled sothat as the cylinder 248 lowers the discharge end 234 of the firstconveyor 226, the cylinder 262 raises the receiving end 232 of thesecond conveyor 228. This allows both of the conveyors to besimultaneously raised or lowered only a short distance to significantlyincrease the reaction time of the plate rejection station 28.

The cylinders 248,262 may be manually controlled or may be coupled witha PLC or other controller to automatically reject plates in response toa sensor that senses defective or damaged plates.

PLATE SYNCHRONIZATION ASSEMBLY

The final conveyor 224 receives the plates that have not been rejectedby the rejection station 28 and transports the plates to a stackingassembly (not shown). The synchronization assembly 30 is provided fortemporarily suspending the transport of the plates on the conveyor 224so that the stacking assembly and other stations downstream of theapparatus 10 can be operated. Then, when the plates are ready to be onceagain transported downstream, the synchronization assembly accuratelyplaces the plates in proper order so that the transport of the platesthrough the apparatus 10 is synchronized with the operations that occurdownstream of the apparatus.

As best illustrated in FIGS. 22-24, the synchronization assembly 30includes a mini-stack assembly 268 and a perch assembly 270. Themini-stack assembly is positioned between the conveyor belts 272,274 ofthe final conveyor 224 and includes a support tray 276 having anupstanding backwall 278 that serves as a stop and a cylinder 280 forselectively raising and lowering the tray. When the tray is lowered asillustrated in FIG. 24, the final conveyor transports the battery platestoward the stacking assembly without interruption. However, when thetray is raised as illustrated in FIG. 23, the tray temporarily suspendsthe forward travel of the battery plates. The mini-stack assembly 268may be manually operated or may be coupled with a PLC or othercontroller so that it is automatically operated in sequence with thestacking assembly.

The perch assembly 270 is operably coupled with the lug brush cleaningmechanism 22 of the manual plate feeder station 16 and includes ahorizontally disposed platform 282, a cylinder 284 for selectivelyextending and retracting the platform, and a fixed backstop 286 as bestillustrated in FIGS. 22-25. When the tray is extended as illustrated bythe solid lines in FIGS. 22 and 25, it catches a plate delivered by themanual plate feeder assembly. When the tray is retracted as illustratedby the dashed lines, it slides underneath the backstop so that thebattery plate supported thereon is dropped onto the conveyor 224. Theperch is operated in sequence with the mini-stack assembly so that itdrops its battery plate at a precise location relative to the platesthat are carried on the conveyor and released by the mini-stack. Asmentioned above, the manual plate feeder station is only used for themanufacture of batteries requiring an extra wrapped or unwrapped plate.

Although the invention has been described with reference to thepreferred embodiment illustrated in the attached drawing figures, it isnoted that equivalents may be employed and substitutions made hereinwithout departing from the scope of the invention as recited in theclaims.

Having thus described the preferred embodiment of the invention, what isclaimed as new and desired to be protected by Letters Patent includesthe following:
 1. A plate handling apparatus comprising;a conveyorassembly for advancing a plurality of battery plates; a support trayselectively shiftable in a generally vertical direction between alowered position below the conveyor assembly wherein the support trayallows the battery plates to be advanced by the conveyor assembly and araised position above the conveyor assembly wherein the support traylifts the battery plates completely off and above the conveyor assemblyand prevents the battery plates from being advanced by the conveyorassembly; and a perch platform selectively shiftable in a generallyhorizontal direction between an extended position generally above theconveyor assembly wherein the perch platform is positioned to catch abattery plate delivered thereto and a retracted position away from theconveyor assembly wherein the perch platform drops the battery platethat was caught thereon onto the conveyor assembly.
 2. The platehandling apparatus as set forth in claim 1, further including acontroller for synchronizing operation of the support tray with theperch platform so that the perch platform drops the caught battery plateat a precise location relative to battery plates passing the supporttray.